September 14, 2021

Podcast: Staring Into The Abyss

Big Picture, Central, Clinical Partners, Life@Work, Podcasts, Rural Health, Work Life

There are times we find ourselves staring into an abyss – facing an unknown and needing to make a decision. For Dr. Alan Olson, that experience occurred 11 years ago, when at the age of 51, he was diagnosed with colon cancer.

“I woke up from my colonoscopy and heard the words, ‘you have cancer,’” said Olson. “I was whisked off to Rice Memorial Hospital and had 18cm of my colon removed. I then spent the next week in the hospital recovering.”

Feeling Afraid

Dr. Olson remembers feeling afraid – not for what was going to happen to him, but rather how it would impact his family. “I was worried about what would happen to my kids if this thing takes me,” said Olson. “I worried about what I would miss – seeing my kids graduate, growing old with my wife, being a grandparent – those things.”

I worried about what I would miss – seeing my kids graduate, growing old with my wife, being a grandparent – those things”

Dr. alan olson, Carris Health, Occupational medicine

Some of those fears started to come into focus when the oncologist told him that 3 of the 18 lymph nodes had cancer in them. Then he and his physician started talking numbers. “The doc told me that without chemo, my 5-year survival rate would be about 4%. And with chemo, it would be about 50%. I remember thinking, ‘Gosh, I was hoping for better odds than that!’”

Olson was faced with a decision. “I remember wondering about how to even make that decision. You just do the best that you can with the information you have at the time,” he said.

Full of gratitude

For Olson, now 11 years removed from that diagnosis, he’s thankful for his good health and he’s full of gratitude for those around him.

“Looking back, I was staring into an abyss and one of the most amazing things about the whole experience was what happened in the community around me,” he explained. “I’ve never seen a hospital room with so many flowers the week I was in the hospital.”

Olson said countless friends and family stopped to see him and the staff – including, nurses, EVS staff and some people he had never met before – were so kind and treated him like a family member. There was even a 5^th grade class from a school in Redwood County that sent him a care package, which really touched his heart. The whole experience gave him an even greater appreciation for the community and the team he’s part of.

Trusted source

Through it all, Olson says what stands out to him about rural communities is that everyone knows each other, takes care of each other, and relies on each other. That trust and being able to be counted on is something he sees as incredibly important today as we battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For those of us working in healthcare, we need to be a trusted source for people in our community that they can count on,” he said. “When they have questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, we need to listen to the concerns and provide facts and information as their trusted source.”

For those of us working in healthcare, we need to be a trusted source for people in our community that they can count on.

Dr. Alan Olson, Carris Health, Occupational Medicine

For Dr. Olson, the relationships he’s built over his long medical career have put him in a position to have many of those trusted conversations about patients’ health and well-being.

“I always say there’s a reason for everything. It might be a good reason or a bad reason, but there’s a reason we have the perspective we do,” he said. “We’re all different, and that’s okay.” Olson approaches conversations about the vaccine by sharing the thinking he went through when he decided to become vaccinated.

My reason why

“I chose to be vaccinated because of what I know about the science and the way the vaccines work. I chose to be vaccinated because of how vaccines have improved the health of the world in huge ways. I got vaccinated because my dad just turned 91 and my mom will be 87, and I want to protect them. I have grandkids ages 5 and 3 who cant get immunized yet. And I take care of people in the clinic — I want to protect them, too.”

Olson adds, “I don’t want to see people leave our organization. Everyone is important to our mission. I hope people can find a trusted source as they have conversations about the vaccine. We have a responsibility to our community to practice the best medicine we know how, and we can also set an example for others. I’m hopeful that we can encourage everyone to do their part so that we can best serve our community.”